DECEMBER 27, 2018 // 3
SCRATCHPAD
A year of reading
in 2018, but of the essential
books, the ones that made
me a better, wiser, more
informed person. And that is
always positive.
Here they are, in no par-
ticular order.
By ERICK BENGEL
COAST WEEKEND
A
fter I compiled my
short list of book rec-
ommendations from a
year of reading, a colleague
pointed out that I chose some
mightily depressing books.
Yeah, maybe. I am drawn
to the ugly side of humanity,
perhaps so that I’m not sur-
prised when it shows its face.
This isn’t a list of the
most uplifting books I read
“Mink River” (2010)
by Brian Doyle —
fiction
When I interviewed Brian
Doyle via email about the
craft of writing some years
ago, his response was witty,
coast
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
weekend
arts & entertainment
touching, thrillingly eloquent
and generous of spirit.
That describes his debut
novel about an imaginary Or-
egon coastal town populated
with characters impossible
not to identify with.
Doyle is an acrobat with
language, pulling off aston-
ishing stylistic feats without
ever appearing to show off.
His familiar setting is imbued
with magical realism that
is sometimes subtle (e.g.,
a character who can sense
COAST WEEKEND EDITOR
ERICK BENGEL
CONTRIBUTORS
DWIGHT CASWELL
DAVID CAMPICHE
R.J. MARX
ON THE COVER
Denny Holmes,
Kim Angelis,
Arline LaMear,
Eddie Park
See story on Page 8
THE ARTS
4
Grant awards
7
Close to Home
8
County Cultural Coalition funds local organizations
COASTAL LIFE
FEATURE
New Year’s People
Locals reflect on their lives, look ahead to 2019
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creatures suffering in his
vicinity) and sometimes not
(e.g., a talking crow).
If there is a main vein of
empathy in the universe, it
surely ran through Doyle’s
pen (he died in 2017). With
“Mink River” he is less con-
cerned with plot and more
with the daily dilemma of
living in tension between our
noble nature and darkest de-
mons. He tells his story with
a glowing yet unsentimental
fascination toward the human
animal.
By the way, those emails?
I printed out and stuffed
them into my copy of “Mink
River,” in case I should find
myself in need of a literary
spirit guide.
“The Remains of
the Day” (1989) and
“Never Let Me Go”
(2005) by Kazuo
Ishiguro — fiction
In voice and milieu, two
books could hardly seem
more different. But look
deeper.
“The Remains of the Day”
is about an English butler
working at a distinguished
estate as World War II draws
near. During his career, his
attention is entirely on his
duties — running the house-
hold, managing the staff,
pleasing his lord, maintaining
his professional dignity.
Then, years later, the
butler gradually, reluctantly
realizes that the employer to
whom he gave his life and
gifts — for whose sake he
sacrificed opportunities for
love and fulfillment, even
perhaps his moral compass
— may not have been worth
serving. His lord’s wasted
life is, by extension, his own.
“Never Let Me Go” fol-
lows a group of children from
THOMAS ROTT PHOTO
Features Editor Erick Bengel.
a peculiar boarding school
through young adulthood,
all while they know — but
never seem to fully absorb
— that their futures don’t
belong to them. They, too, are
duty-bound to follow the life
laid out for them, marching
like docile lambs to their fate.
Both books by Ka-
zuo Ishiguro are about
well-meaning people so
habituated to a form of
psychological imprisonment
that they can’t see, much less
meaningfully resist, a system
of evil that uses them as
means to a twisted end.
“Hillbilly Elegy: A
Memoir of a Family
and Culture in Crisis”
(2016) by J.D. Vance
— nonfiction
An intelligent, tightly
written memoir about a guy,
born into an Appalachian
family, who defied the odds
by (1) not becoming a help-
less drug addict and (2) grad-
uating from Yale and forging
a stable, happy adulthood.
The book is one man’s
success story and also the
recognition of a tragedy that
didn’t come to pass, but very
well could have. Vance is
fortunate to have been partly
raised by grandparents who
may have been hillbillies but
were sophisticated enough
to believe in his poten-
tial. Vance, however, still
struggles with the rage and
residual anxieties born of a
hardscrabble upbringing.
Critics pegged “Hillbilly
Elegy” as a must-read for
anyone looking to under-
stand the build-up of anger
and grievances that plague
red-state America, and may
have fueled untold voters
during the 2016 presidential
election. It’s easy to see how,
with horizons so narrow —
with nothing but opioids,
poverty and Mountain Dew
mouth to look forward to
— some people might show
little investment in a political
establishment that appears
not to take their plight seri-
ously.
Vance is a proud God-
bless-America-style patriot
— and a sharp, sympathetic,
cleared-eyed voice for his
culture.
“The Apprentice:
Trump, Russia and
the Subversion of
American Democracy”
(2018) by Greg Miller
— nonfiction
Of the many books from
2018 that try to reckon with
Continued on Page 16